Where is everyone?

[AndrewAPrice]

Who knows.. maybe 4 scientists working in Antarctica realised with all the free time they have sitting inside their houses which are inverted-refrigerators (keeping the cold out - not in!) could be better spent on writing an OS.

[Troy Martin]

Who knows.. maybe 4 scientists working in Antarctica realised with all the free time they have sitting inside their houses which are inverted-refrigerators (keeping the cold out - not in!) could be better spent on writing an OS.

Well they are studying penguin cultures down there and watching them push each other off into the ocean must be terribly boring...

[i586coder]

come on folks, no body talking about mars, maybe in the future there is a human beings
up there in mars, so i suggest adding MARS in your options



can't belive, read this
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoen ... 80731.html


CheerS
a.T.d

[Solar]

Once I had dreams about mankind actually finding a second home in space. Today, I know more about the greedy stupidity of mankind and Kessler Syndrome, I have buried such hopes.

Perhaps there'll be missions that make research companies richer, bring home minerals to build poisonous things, or bring home fuels to burn into our atmosphere, but a populace leaving our planet to build communities elsewhere?

Forget it. The free market tells you there's no ROI in it, unless we're talking a Mars holiday resort for the Filthy Rich (tm).

[Combuster]

Forget it. The free market tells you there's no ROI in it

I shall wait for the day that there are too many people to be supplied by oxygen given the remaining rainforest sizes.

[Solar]

Already there. Co2 levels are rising. Long before O2 runs out, the Co2 will suffocate us.

[Brynet-Inc]

Already there. Co2 levels are rising. Long before O2 runs out, the Co2 will suffocate us.

I'll stop burping after I drink a pop... no, not really.

[Solar]

Good one.

[jal]

Already there. Co2 levels are rising. Long before O2 runs out, the Co2 will suffocate us.

CO2 doesn't suffocate you. Suffocation is caused by lack of O2. You could feel really suffocated though, with high levels of CO2, without getting oxygen deprived.


JAL

[Solar]

1% Co2: drowsiness. 2%: blood pressure and pulse rise, hearing diminished. 5%: dizzyness, confusion, headaches, shortness of breath. 8%: sweating, dim vision, tremor, unconsciousness.

Our atmosphere contains >20% O2, and Co2 is ~1.5 times heavier than O2. The rest is math and physics... (see also Lake Nyos 1986 disaster.)

[AJ]

1% Co2: drowsiness. 2%: blood pressure and pulse rise, hearing diminished. 5%: dizzyness, confusion, headaches, shortness of breath. 8%: sweating, dim vision, tremor, unconsciousness.

But stictly speaking, that's not due to suffocation, it's due to hypercapnia.

Cheers,
Adam

[jal]

But stictly speaking, that's not due to suffocation, it's due to hypercapnia.

Indeed. It's a bit far fetched to go from rise of CO2 in atmosphere to rise of CO2 in blood.

Our atmosphere contains >20% O2, and Co2 is ~1.5 times heavier than O2. The rest is math and physics

Unfortunately, I was never that good in either math or physics, but I'm pretty sure oxygen and nitrogen also have different masses, and yet.

JAL

[Solar]

• Oxygen: 1.429 g/L
• Nitrogen: 1.251 g/L
• Carbon Dioxide: 1.98 g/L

Yes, they mix, but not terribly well or fast. Teachers demonstrate this by "pouring" CO2 from a container into another one holding a burning candle - candle goes out. (See for yourself.)

About external and blood Co2 levels... you know how the lungs work? Co2 levels in your blood are always higher than your surroundings... (The percentage values I mentioned in my last post were for external Co2 levels...)

[jal]

Yes, they mix, but not terribly well or fast. Teachers demonstrate this by "pouring" CO2 from a container into another one holding a burning candle - candle goes out.

Yes, but atmospheric conditions are different.

About external and blood Co2 levels... you know how the lungs work? Co2 levels in your blood are always higher than your surroundings... (The percentage values I mentioned in my last post were for external Co2 levels...)

It'd be interesting to know at what point (CO2 levels in surrounding) the lungs start failing to exhume CO2 so that you're bloodlevels rise dangerously. Anyway, the proposed levels in the (distant) past are much higher than the currently expected values because of our CO2 polutions. So I still think it's unrealistic to state that we'll cause our own suffocation :).


JAL

[bewing]

Yes, it is completely unrealistic. We've been working at it really hard for a century, and we managed to raise CO2 levels from 320 parts per million to 380 ppm. If we do it for another half-century, all the oil runs out. Guess how much CO2 will be released from burning oil, after it runs out? The most hysterical-panic-mongering guesstimates that I have seen for CO2 levels (such as in Al Gore's movie) were for 500 ppm. Still two orders of magnitude below the 5% atmospheric concentration that Solar (correctly) finds troublesome. But we would have to decompose most of the carbonate rocks in the continents in order to get there. And CO2 does mix quite evenly through the atmosphere, on the order of a few days. It doesn't stick to the surface of the planet.

Going to space starting from scratch can be done for a few billion dollars, assuming perfect efficiency. Add a couple orders of magnitude for inefficiency. It won't be long until someone develops decent technology, and does it from scratch the first time. After the early adopters pay for the initial development, the price will drop several orders of magnitude -- and mere millionaires will be able to move into space. Will the general populace be able to go? Of course not. E = mgh ensures that.